Evolution of Thought

Editor’s note: As Creation magazine has been continuously published since 1978, we
are publishing some of the articles from the archives for historical interest, such as this. For teaching and
sharing purposes, readers are advised to supplement these historic articles with more up-to-date ones available by searching creation.com.

Easter Bunny Fossil?

A rabbit-sized mammal that supposedly ate eggs is thought to be the original owner
of fossil bones found in 1983 at Riversleigh Plateau in north-west Queensland by
a team led by zoologist Dr Michael Archer, from the University of New South Wales.
Dr Archer said the nameless animal had two forward-pointing teeth and sharp v-shaped
back teeth that must have worked like scissors. But since it had no teeth to grind
its food, Dr Archer said the creature’s front teeth could therefore have been
used to pierce birds’ eggs, and therefore it probably lived in treetops.

Telegraph (Brisbane),
January 29, 1986.

New Species?

A foal whose mother was a mule and father a donkey has been described as a ‘new
kind of hybrid animal’. The foal was named Dragon Foal, and is said to have
a donkey’s tail and legs, a horse’s neck and shoulders, and a mule’s
head and ears. Mules, of course, are usually sterile, so Dragon Foal’s arrival
caused great interest when she was born in China in 1981. Scientists in Peking recently
checked the mother’s chromosomes and said she was indeed half horse and half
donkey. They were surprised that horse and donkey chromosomes could join in a single
fertile egg. ‘If you want to think of it as a new species, you can,’
said a researcher. ‘But at the moment I couldn’t say that it’s
definitely a new species.’ Why? Because it hasn’t successfully reproduced
after its kind.

Discover,
January, 1986 (p. 12)

What can a panda bear?

According to the latest evolutionary analysis, the red panda is not as closely related
to the raccoon as it looks. And the black and white giant panda is more of a bear
than most biologists thought. So say researchers from the US National Cancer Institute
and the National Zoo after analysing genes and proteins from pandas, raccoons and
bears. They concluded that red and giant pandas shared an ancestor until 30 to 50
million years ago, when three groups arose—one leading to raccoons, another
to the red pandas, and a third to giant pandas and bears. As is normal, no fossil
evidence exists to confirm this theory.

Science 85,
December, 1985.
Be sure to see our article on the red panda in Did You Know? in this issue

Dinosaurs in the Dark

The discovery of dinosaur bones in Alaska (see Creation Ex Nihilo Vol. 8
No 2) has posed a new problem for evolutionists. One popular theory says that dinosaurs
were wiped out during a long period of darkness and climate change. This gloom,
they say, was caused by a dust cloud after an asteroid or comet hit the earth. But
now it has been suggested that at a latitude of 70 degrees north, these Alaskan
dinosaurs would have seen at least two months’ darkness every year. So they
could have survived the gloom produced by a dust cloud in the earth’s atmosphere.
Another theory on dinosaur extinction is wiped out.

Education-Mail Annual,
1986 (p. 19).

Feathered Snake

In the book published by the Australian Skeptics titled ‘Creationism An Australian
Perspective,’ edited by Bridgstock and Smith, one author, Dr Tony Thulborn,
claims that Archaeopteryx is ‘a splendid example of a transitional fossil.’
He backs up his claim by giving an example of how reptile scales can be changed
into bird feathers. Vitamin A is said to be one ingredient which can transform developing
scales in chicken embryos into feathers, and their feathers into scales. But then,
chickens grow feathers and scales anyway. When Dr Thulborn can use vitamin A to
grow feathers on a snake we’ll be a little more interested.

Creationism An Australian Perspective,
(first edition) 1986.

Reader’s Digest ‘Facts’

Reader’s Digest, that great sausage-machine of evolutionary misinformation,
has done it again. Last year they put out a book called Reader’s Digest Book
of Facts. But when the Digest deals with evolution, facts don’t really mean
facts. The first ‘fact’ they present tells us the first forms of life
‘were undoubtedly single-celled creatures, perhaps not unlike the primitive
amoeba of today.’ We are also given a ‘fact’ about how a human
embryo re-traces the history of evolution: it develops slits in the neck like fish
gills, it has a tail, and so on. This ‘fact’ is so wrong that the idea
was discredited and thrown out decades ago. Then we are told how ‘man-made
life’ came about in experiments by Miller and others. But in fact, all that
was produced was a mixture of amino acids that would destroy life—a long way
from forming ‘life’. This book of ‘facts’ contains so much
speculation that we have heard of people sending their books back to the publishers
and telling them to get their facts straight. Why not join them and send yours back?

Reader’s Digest,
Book of Facts.

Differing Reviews

A favourable review of Dr Henry Morris’s book, The Biblical Basis for Modern
Science, appeared in last November’s Sydney Anglican magazine, Southern Cross.
The reviewer, Stephen Geard, is a member of various organisations including the
British Biblical Creation Society and the American Creation Research Society. In
the February, 1986, issue of the same magazine, a letter by anti-creationist Dr
Alex Ritchie of the Australian Museum in Sydney claimed there was nothing in the
review to indicate Stephen Geard’s scientific qualifications, but there was
‘a great deal to indicate he is an acknowledged fundamentalist creationist.
’ Dr Ritchie suggested Dr Morris’s book be reviewed again by some scientist
active in the Christian community ‘who has no difficulty reconciling his or
her religious beliefs with acceptance of the fact of evolution…’ While
Dr Ritchie’s letter contained something to indicate his scientific qualifications,
it contained nothing to indicate that his view of Scripture should be adhered to
at all.

Bigotry Victim

Dr Jerry Bergman, author of the well-researched and down-to-earth article on UFOs
and evolution in this issue of Creation Ex Nihilo, was dismissed from Bowling
Green State University in Ohio several years ago for his creationist beliefs. Contrast
Newsletter now reports that when it was suggested Dr Bergman had been a victim of
religious bigotry, Attorney G. Merle Bergman (no relation to Jerry) reacted by saying
he was ‘aghast’ at the suggestion. The attorney claims the real issue
is not bigotry, but whether Dr Bergman can be an objective teacher with a proper
grasp of reality. Since Dr Jerry Bergman is a creationist, the attorney argues,
he cannot be an objective teacher or have a proper grasp of reality.
Watch for the same thing happening in New South Wales, Australia.

Investigate Creation!

Creation science (Australia) should be investigated by a national committee, according
to the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. In the minutes of their ninth
general meeting, University of Christchurch, New Zealand (December 4, 1985), the
association has recommended that the Geological Society of Australia ‘investigate
the implications of “creation scienceâ€? on geological education
in Australia’.

It’s nice to see creation science is having such an impact.

Association of Australasian Palaeontologists,
Minutes of Ninth General Meeting,
December 4, 1985.

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